As if Constance Carroll, chancellor of the San Diego Community College District, and Martha Barnette, co-host of a nationally syndicated public radio show, didn’t have enough to do... They have started selling T-shirts.

The women executives have joined forces to promote two things they love: the City of San Diego and pandas.

While walking on the Mission Beach boardwalk last fall, Carroll was inspired by sales items bearing the California flag with its grizzly bear image. Instead of printing “California Republic,” why not print “San Diego Republic” under a panda, symbolic of those at our zoo?

An artist by avocation, Carroll sketched her flag-themed image. In no time, she and Barnette, a longtime friend and panda lover, were setting up a website and business to benefit primarily environmental and animal causes.

Their $19.95 T-shirts went on display this month in Simply Local, a boutique focusing on San Diego entrepreneurs in the Headquarters center by Seaport Village.

Their first sale was to a German tourist who stopped by as they were setting up. He was looking for a shirt to take home to a friend.

“This is an avocation, but we’re also very serious about it,” explains Carroll, who was president of Mesa College and Saddleback College before becoming chancellor of the 130,000-student district 10 years ago.

How can she fit T-shirts into her hectic 70-hour workweek? “That’s what nights and weekends are for,” she replies.

The San Diego Republic founders were surprised at the difficulty of starting a small business here. “It took us eight and a half months. The labyrinth of technical and legal issues was eye-opening,” says Carroll.

Barnette, co-host of “A Way With Words,” was a walking advertisement on Cowles Mountain the other day. To her delight, a hiker yelled, “Nice shirt.”